Jill:
"How did I get myself into this again?", I thought as I struggled underwater. Things had been
going along so well. I was stretched out on the grass by the pool. Amanda had been trying for about ten
minutes to "accidentally" spill the ice from her drink on me. At the other end of the pool our moms were
arguing. I took my eyes off Amanda in order to watch. Almost immediately I got a lapful of ice. I forced
myself not to flinch or yell out. Instead I just smiled and said, "Ooh, that feels good." Actually it was a
really hot day, and it did feel kind of good. Almost as good as smiling sweetly at your best friend/enemy
who's trying desperately to provoke you.
Just then I heard my mom yell out, "Oh shit," followed by a splash as Amanda's mom jumped into
the pool. Amanda's mom stood in the water, splashing my mom. My mom's bikini top was
floating in front of her. My mom reached out from poolside to grab her top. Just as she touched it
Amanda's mom pulled it a little farther away. My mom stretched out to try to reach it without getting
into the water. Before I could stop her Amanda tossed one of her ice cubes at my mom. My mom
flinched a litte and lost her balance. She fell in. Amanda's mom jumped on her back and pushed her
under the water. My mom managed to flip her over. They thrashed around in the water for a bit, before
Amanda's mom broke away and swam for the edge of the pool.
"You get out of the pool to get away from me, so you lose, remember?", my mom said.
"Not really. We're not fighting, remember?", Amanda's mom replied. Then she turned to me
and winked. My mom started to fix her bikini top. "Let me help you with that," Amanda's mom said,
grabbing the top by one of the straps. My mom pulled away from her, leaving Amanda's mom holding
her top. She held it out to her, taunting her. My mom did nothing. I knew she was only putting up with
this because of her promise to me, so I swallowed my pride and asked Amanda's
mom for my mom's top.
She smiled and said, "Anything for you. Here." Only instead of handing the bikini top to me
she tried to toss it past me, to Amanda. We collided with each other as we both grabbed for it.
Amanda was knocked down, but before I could do anything about it her mother grabbed me from
behind. "You promised; no fighting, remember?"
Right then I realized I had made a mistake. If we kept going eventually I'd be the one to get
knocked down and you better believe Amanda would be taking full advantage. I decided to leave.
Before I could go I had to get my clothes, which I had left in Amanda's bedroom. While there
I took a closer look at exactly where she had put my old bikini. It was draped around a 3rd place
trophy from our first swim meet. Even though she had already won first place in another event that day
she had always cherished this one. It was the last event of the day, and my last chance to win
something. She beat me by a fraction of a second and got to send me home empty-handed(Actually she
didn't send me anywhere. We rode home together. That was a fun ride.)
Amanda came up and shoved me from behind. "PUT THAT BACK!", she screamed. I had
intended to leave it but I found myself clutching my old bikini while Amanda tried to take it away
from me.
"You know, if we start to fight now there's no one to break us up," I said.
She smiled and said "That's right. I'll tell you what. If you can get out of this room with this
bikini you can keep it." I was sorely tempted but I decided that I really wanted my mom to watch me
beat Amanda. Plus, after all the crap my mom had had to take from Amanda's mom she deserved to see
me beat Amanda. And Amanda's mom really deserved to watch Amanda get beaten. I let go and
started to leave.
"Do you really have to go now?", Amanda asked.
"Don't worry. I'll be back Saturday to kick your butt."
I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror as I walked out. I looked good in my bikini.
Unfortunately I had gone up to her room to change back into my clothes, which were still sitting on her
bed. I really could have gone home in just my bikini, but I couldn't leave without my purse. Cursing
under my breath I went back. I expected Amanda to give me a hard time but she was waiting there
holding my purse. She handed it to me, smiling. I thanked her and started to walk away again.
"You know, if you stay I could teach you to do a backflip." Believe it or not, Amanda and I are
usually friendly competitors, in most things. Gymnastics is another story. We've been bitter rivals since
we were young girls taking our first gymnastics lesson.
I spun around on her. "There is no way you can do a better backflip than me!"
She smiled. I could tell she thought she was once more in control. She was right. "Prove it," she
said.
Shannon:
The girls ended up having our own gymnastics/diving competition. It was always fun watching the
girls compete. It was even better without now that we didn't have to worry about any rules of "good
sportsmanship". There was no fair way to judge between them, so they took turns doing various flips
and somersaults off the side of the pool, basically waiting for the other girl to wipe out.
(To be honest, in a judged contest Jill would have won. Would it be mean of me to point out that
young female gymnasts who haven't developed yet are generally considered to have an unfair
advantage? Good.)
Eventually Amanda moved up to the diving board. She cartwheeled the length of the diving board,
moving right into a handspring. Of course Jill had to match it. As Jill climbed the ladder it was obvious
that she was a little nervous, which was understandable after the way her first dive had turned out
earlier. At the top of the ladder she stopped and took a few deep breaths to get herself under
control. "Get ready, Amanda," I called out. "You might have to pull her out of the water this time."
I have to give Jill credit. She kept her cool. She just looked down at Amanda, smiled, and said "If
you pull me out of the water you can have my top," .
"You're on," Amanda said.
I wasn't done yet, however. Jill started to do a cartwheel. "Watch out, Jill!", I shouted. It was
the kind of thing Amanda and Jill used to do to distract each other, when they were younger. Childish,
but in this case effective. Okay, maybe I'm giving myself too much credit. Maybe it was just her nerves.
Maybe she just plain misjudged the end of the diving board.
Jill:
Anyway, there I was, doing a handstand split at the edge of the board, when I realized I was losing
my balance. Just as I realized it was hopeless my eyes met Amanda's. I could tell she knew, too.
Like before, I hit the water hard enough to knock the wind out of me a little. It didn't take long for
me to recover. Just long enough for Amanda to grab me and swim over to the side of the pool. She had
me partway out of the water before I managed to push her away. She climbed out of the pool, then
crouched down, offering me a hand up. I took her hand.
"Jill!", my mother yelled. Amanda's mom was laughing. That's when I realized that I was actually
helping Amanda pull me out of the pool! I grabbed her leg with my free hand and pulled her off
balance. She flipped over into the pool.
We were in the deep end of the pool. I was leaning on the edge of the pool with my arms crossed.
Amanda pulled herself up and sat next to me. She grabbed a handful of my hair and pulled. I did the
same to her.
"Sorry, Amanda," her mom said. "I tried to keep Jill from fighting, but I guess it's no use."
"That's all right, Mom," Amanda said.
"Michelle and I talked it over while you two were inside. Same rules as before. First girl
to give up loses her top."
"If she still has it on," Amanda replied.
"Okay, anytime you're ready, go ahead." I started to push off the side. "Oh Jill, one other
thing," Amanda's mom said. I stopped. I heard a splash as Amanda jumped into the water.
"What?", I asked.
She grinned. "Never mind," she said. Then she winked. I felt Amanda tug at my leg. While
her mother was distracting me she had had time to get into position to do her little leapfrog
move, the one that had almost finished me off as soon as we got started the last time.
I started to pull away from her the only way I could go, up onto the pool deck. I heard my
mother's voice. "Jill, don't!". Then it hit me. "Same rules as before." The only real rule we had
was the one Amanda's mom had made up when I got out of the pool the first time: "You got out
of the pool to get away from her. That's the same as giving up."
I craned my neck to look at Amanda, but I didn't really have to. Even with my eyes closed
I could have seen the malicious little grin she had on her face. She knew I was stuck. My arms were
already starting to ache a little. I would not be able to stay in this position much longer, and
I couldn't change positions without getting out of pool.
I quickly decided the best thing to do to give myself a fighting chance would be to take a deep
breath and let myself drop down into the water now. I could have sworn that even with my head
underwater I could hear Amanda laughing as she jumped pushed herself up onto my shoulders.